How to do a Kettlebell Swing

I recently saw a video on “how to do a swing the right way”, and it inspired me to make a few notes, because, unfortunately, “the right way” wasn’t how I would encourage anyone to be swinging... The trainer in the video definitely made some valid points, however, these useful tips were also married to unhelpful behaviours like a static standing start, over gripping the bell, and a hyperextended back; all behaviours that are unhelpful at best, potentially injurious at worst.

After a bit of thought, I decided to outline why, in my opinion, Strongfirst’s 11 standards for the swing are important for people to use as a starting point for their swinging.

1. The back is neutral. The neck is slightly extended or neutral on the bottom of the swing.

Sometimes people will try and keep their back vertical as they swing, confusing a neutral (sometimes referred to as a ‘straight’ back) with a vertical one. This standard is saying, that regardless of whether you are at the top, bottom or somewhere in between, your back will maintain its natural curves in a consistent, tall shape, through the movement.

This position is ideally supported by active lats and an engaged midsection that are working together to make a strong, stable ‘chassis’ to transmit the force from the ground to the bell.

The neck position is important because of how strongly our body reacts to our head. Where we look, and what we do with our head creates a response throughout our body, including our spine and our pelvis. Failing to maintain a fairly neutral or slightly extended neck, is likely to put undue stress into our lower back.

2. The heels, toes, and the balls of the feet are planted and the knees track the toes.

This is fairly self-explanatory. If your feet aren’t well connected to the ground it creates issues up the chain, including a decent amount of stress for your joints. In almost all athletic movements, you’re wanting the knees to track the toes as much as possible. Too much roll in or out, particularly in a repetitive movement like the swing, can result in a lot of stress for your knees.

3. The shoulders are packed.

Basically, the shoulders rest in their socket without sliding up towards the ears. This definitely doesn’t mean that they to be down and back, which is a useful position for horizontal pushing and pulling, but rather just down. In the swing, this usually feels best when the shoulder is away from the ear and either in line with, or slightly in front of the ear.

4. The kettlebell handle passes above the knees during the backswing.

This is a timing issue. If you hinge early, then the bell will drop down to low. When the bell drops too low the wrong musculature is asked to carry the load, both making the next swing less powerful, and increasing risk to your lower back.

5. The arms are straight in the bottom position.

This is almost a cheat code (up, up, left, right, down, down, A, for those who lived through the 90s...). When your back is neutral and your arms are fully extended in the bottom of your swing, your body is ready and primed to explode. In this position, your body is a connected unit and ready to smoothly and powerfully transmit the force from your feet through your hip hinge and out of the bell.

6. There is no forward knee movement (increasing ankle dorsiflexion) on the upswing.

Forward movement on the upswing can create a bit of a wave. This wave has a tendency to load the lower back in an unfortunate way. It also makes the movement more complex and less powerful because it is changing the direction of the force midway through the movement instead of allowing a smooth, uninterrupted drive.

7. The body forms a straight line on the top of the swing: The hips and knees extend fully, the spine is neutral.

This position is super safe and powerful!

When you snap to this position from the loaded bottom position mentioned previously you are able to smoothly propel the bell without loading your back or your knees in an unhelpful way.

A quick note: 

You want your pelvis neutral at the top. Rotate it too far under you (posterior tilt) and repeatedly swinging can upset your tail, failure to get the bell under you (anterior tilt) can upset your lower back. Both will likely be fine initially but will become dramatically less friendly in the longer term.

8. The kettlebell forms an extension of the straight arms at the top of the swing. A slight elbow bend is acceptable. 

11. The kettlebell floats momentarily on the top of the swing.

These standards tell us a lot about what is going on beforehand. If the bell forms an extension of the arm at the top of the swing, and the bell floats in this position, then it means that the person has used both their hips and their arms, appropriately.

A good swing will have both elements. If the bell doesn’t form an extension of the arm, or it never floats, then something has gone wrong earlier and needs some attention.

9. The biomechanical breathing match is used.

This is both a power production and a safety requirement. Breathing as the hips snap forward not only increase midsection stability via intraabdominal pressure, but it also has a significant measurable impact on the amount of power transmitted through the bell.

Note:

There is no doubt that breathing effectively will increase your power output, however, we’ve found (in testing at QKB using force plates) that the power breathing taught at StrongFirst events produces a jump in power of 15% even over other proven, effective breathing methods in trained individuals.

10. The abs and glutes visibly contract at the top of the swing.

Both of these behaviours help to protect your lower back. This is important as the hips produce so much power in an effective swing. The contraction of the abs and glutes create a strong stable, muscularly supported way of decelerating the hips from maximum, powerful acceleration into a tight, strong planked position.

What now?

This is an incredibly condensed overview of some of the safety standards that are taught at Strongfirst courses, but it is also a useful litmus test for you when watching videos about swinging safely. If someone is teaching swinging for fitness and they aren’t ticking these boxes, then it might be worth looking for another video. Alternatively, if you’re local to Brisbane, you can drop in and see what we do at our beginner kettlebell workshops, or our regularly run Simple and Sinister StrongFirst workshops. If you’re not local, then you owe it to yourself to look at StrongFirst.com for the nearest Strongfirst instructor who can guide you safely through these standards so that your swing is as powerful and safe as it can possibly be!